476 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 
[November 
ski became hopelessly clogged (bad fahrer, as the Nor- 
wegians say). At this time the surface was unspeakably 
heavy for pulling, but in a few minutes a south wind 
sprang up and a beneficial result was immediately felt. 
Pulling on foot, the advance had even greater difficulty in 
going straight until the last half mile, when the sky broke 
slightly. We got off our march, but under the most 
harassing circumstances and with the animals very tired. 
It is snowing hard again now, and heaven only knows 
when it will stop. 
If it were not for the surface and bad light, things would 
not be so bad. There are few sastrugi and little deep 
snow. For the most part men and ponies sink to a hard 
crust some 3 or 4 inches beneath the soft upper snow. 
Tiring for the men, but in itself more even, and therefore 
less tiring for the animals. Meares just come up and 
reporting very bad surface. We shall start 1 hour later 
to-morrow, i.e. at 4 a.m., making 5 hours' delay on the 
conditions of three days ago. Our forage supply necessi- 
tates that we should plug on the 13 (geographical) miles 
daily under all conditions, so that we can only hope for 
better things. It is several days since we had a glimpse 
of land, which makes conditions especially gloomy. A 
tired animal makes a tired man, I find, and none of us 
are very bright now after the day's march, though we 
have had ample sleep of late. 
Tuesday, November 28. — Camp 24. The most dismal 
start imaginable. Thick as a hedge, snow falling and 
drifting with keen southerly wind. The men pulled 
out at 3.15 with Chinaman and James Pigg. We followed 
